Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Kamen Rider is the brainchild of Shotaro Ishinomori and property of Toei, and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight was made by the Wang Brothers and Adness Entertainment.

Kit Taylor stood by the cliff and looked out to the city of Gramercy Heights in the distance. The place-from the streets to the apartment complex-looked so tiny from up here. He had been living down there for so long, just him and his dad in all those years. That had been before his dad disappeared. Before he kept getting caught by the police for things he didn't do. Before he…

Kit stopped that last thought and pulled out something from his pocket. He held it in his hands, his eyes almost tearing up at the golden dragon emblem in the center of the black deck case. It was a strange thing, literally from a whole other world, called an Advent Deck. There had been eleven others like Kit's, ten of them given to more selfish people with personal desires. Kit was no exception, but he found use for his deck to good, thanks to the man who trained him. The man who had considered him a friend. A brother.

"Len, I'm sorry…" Kit whispered, remembering his greatest regret…

"Final Vent!"

The words rang out clearly for Kit to hear that it woke him from his sleep. His eyes shot open to the inside of the grilled visor his helmet, and he realized he was not wearing his regular clothes. He was in red armor, powered by the Advent Deck holstered in the belt around his waist. It was styled after a dragon, like the emblem of his Deck, and was meant to help him fight evil.

In spite of the special armor, Kit Taylor-no, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight-struggled to get up. His joints popped and his muscles ached down to the fiber, which came from carefully placed strikes. They kept him on his knees and forced him to watch the scene in front of him.

Kamen Rider Wing Knight, Dragon Knight's friend and mentor, staggered forward towards his enemy. Even in the special power of the Survive Mode, with the golden trim on azure armor, Wing Knight had been injured just as much as Dragon Knight and struggled to attack. In front, Kamen Rider Wrath stood, holding his long staff that called out the words. As Wrath's staff disappeared, a golden and flaming phoenix flew out of no where, towards the golden and bronze armored rider slowly rising from the ground.

Panic filled Dragon Knight. He shot up, in spite of the crack in his back. He expected to find himself in the similar golden trim of his Survive Mode, but he was back in his simple gray and red armor. "No, no!" he breathed heavily. "Must've used too much energy."

When Wrath's back lit up with the flames of his phoenix, Dragon Knight pushed that thought away. "Don't have much time!" he said to himself, looking at the peril his friend was in.

He had to do something. He had to do anything. To save Wing Knight. To save Len.

So Dragon Knight pushed down a section of his DragVisor, the red gauntlet on his left forearm, and drew out a card from his deck. He didn't even look as he just slid it into the DragVisor's opened chamber and closed it.

"Final Vent!" the DragVisor echoed with a flash of its yellow eyes.

No matter how loud the words were, they were ignored by the other Kamen Riders. Good. Dragon Knight stood in a crouching position, just as the large and red line of his dragon appeared by his side. He then jumped up with his dragon following as he rose higher into the air. He spun and extended his right foot, his dragon now behind him.

With a spit of the dragon's fire, Dragon Knight shot towards Wrath, his foot engulfed in flames. He felt the wind rush past him, and he believed he could hit Wrath quick and fast before the golden Rider could realize it.

He was not fast enough, though.

"Good bye, Wing Knight," Wrath chuckled, then he fell on Wing Knight, engulfed in fire.

Everything went so quickly. Wrath's phoenix flames went everywhere, putting out Dragon Knight's own. The explosion knocked Dragon Knight and his Advent Beast away, the Rider hitting a tree and his dragon vanishing into thin air.

Dragon Knight was not sure how long he had been lying on the ground, but he saw the smoke had settled by the time he rose his helmeted head. "Len?" he called out, getting to his knees. "Len, are you there?!"

Some of the smoke cleared away, and Dragon Knight found his answer. Wing Knight slowly rose to his knees, now wearing the typical blue and gray armor of his normal Rider form. Wrath was nowhere to be seen. Did that mean…?

"Kit…"

The sound, so soft and tired, made Dragon Knight's heart drop. It dropped further, seeing Wing Knight beginning to fade. The bits of the Kamen Rider armor, his entire body, dissolved into the air, being pulled by some unknown force into the void between worlds. Dragon Knight had seen too many times to know what was going on. "Len, no!" he shouted.

For a moment, Dragon Knight thought he saw the magenta and sting ray motif of another Kamen Rider, another ally lost in this sad war. Dragon Knight blinked and the memory of that past Rider was replaced by Wing Knight. He wanted to run, like he did for that other Rider, but he was too hurt to even stand.

Before he vanished, Wing Knight turned. Dragon Knight could see the eyes of Wing Knight, of Len, staring at him through the grilled visor.

"I'm sorry, Kit... It's up to you now…"

As those words vanished, so did Wing Knight, leaving Dragon Knight the only Kamen Rider left in the world.

"No," Kit held back the tears. "I'm sorry, Len."

Nothing replied to his words. There was only silence, only the cool breeze of the air.

Then, there was a reply. A loud ringing sound.

Kit wiped away his tears begrudgingly. He knew that sound. It was an alarm, only something he and other Kamen Riders could hear. That and he heard a ringing from his phone.

Answering his phone, Kit heard a familiar voice. "Kit, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, Maya. I've heard it," Kit answered. "I'll be on my way."

Closing his phone, Kit turned and held up the Advent Deck in his hand, the electricity from the Desk forming his belt. "Kamen Rider!" Kit called out and slid his Advent Deck into his belt's empty buckle.

In bright rings of red, Kit stood as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. He looked down to his armored hand. "Len, I won't let you down," Dragon Knight clenched his fist. "I'll finish what you started!"

AN: This is pretty much a "what-if" to the American adaptation of Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. In episode 31, the title character had been taken out of the show by being "Vented" (or sent to the Shadow Realm, for simplicity's sake). In this case, I had Kit's mentor and friend, Len/Kamen Rider Wing Knight, being taken out, leaving Kit alone to find out how to fight the series' main villain, General Xaviax. It'd be interesting to see if anyone does take up this idea (I certainly don't think I can follow up on this).

Raika out.